


"The Revival of English Magic" Brings Joy and Wonder to the Airwaves

by chillydown



Category: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - Susanna Clarke
Genre: Fake Television Show Review, Gen, Post-Canon, Treat, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:35:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28054005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chillydown/pseuds/chillydown
Summary: The Guardian's cultural critic Leslie Shoemaker analyses the first few episodes of "The Revival of English Magic," a new BBC One television drama focusing on the life and times of esteemed magicians Jonathan Strange and Gilbert Norrell.Article originally published on Oct. 23, 2019.
Comments: 34
Kudos: 60
Collections: Yuletide 2020





	"The Revival of English Magic" Brings Joy and Wonder to the Airwaves

**Author's Note:**

  * For [attheborder](https://archiveofourown.org/users/attheborder/gifts).



Magic is coming to BBC One. But this time, it’s in the form of a television program. _The Revival of English Magic_ is a historical drama, focused on the period of the same name: the early 1800s, when magicians such as Jonathan Strange and Gilbert Norrell helped bring magic back to England. But don’t think of it like a documentary: the show promises to bring a new look and unfamiliar insights to a familiar period.

The showrunner of _The Revival of English Magic_ is Elias Rubin, a BBC mainstay who cut his teeth working on shows like _Doctor Who, Being Human,_ and _Return of Elfland’s King._ Rubin also is no stranger to magic: his father, Charles, served as a technician on the Michael Palin travel series _Journey into Fairyland_ and his sister, Estelle, is a practical magician in her own right. “Magic’s always been a part of my family. So when I was offered the opportunity to direct _The Revival of English Magic,_ I lept at it.”

Rubin knows he has some large shoes to fill. Susanna Clarke’s seminal text on the Revival of English Magic, _Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell,_ is still studied in schools today. Likewise, the 1978 BBC television adaptation of _Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell_ remains a classic in the eyes of many Britons. The series was a critical success and helped launch the careers of many mainstays in the British television and film industry, such as David Collings (Jonathan Strange), Peter Davison (John Segundus) and Miranda Richardson (Emma Wintertowne). “I love the old series myself,” Rubin admits. “My grandmother recorded it on tape, which I practically wore out by watching whenever I visited her. But we’ve learned a lot about the Revival of English Magic since the 1970s—the Greysteel letters weren’t even discovered until 1995.”

Rubin is referring to the papers of Flora Greysteel, a minor figure in the Revival of English Magic but an influential magician of the Victorian era in her own right, which was found during renovations of the historic Trestlewood Hall, Greysteel’s Shropshire estate.

Greysteel’s friendship with Arabella Strange particularly interests Rubin, as one of the common criticisms of the 1978 classic is that it underserved it’s female characters. As script-writer Ella Louise Card explains, “We’ve got all these wonderful resources about Strange and Norrell through Clarke’s text, Segundus’s biography of Strange, later studies, and so on. We’ve even got some wonderful interviews with Stephen Black, as a result of some of the 1840s expeditions into Fairy. But understandably, Emma Wintertowne and Arabella Strange never really wanted to talk about their imprisonment by the then-ruler of Lost Hope. One of the people who they did talk to was Flora Greysteel, one of Arabella Strange’s closest friends. It’s only through her conversations with Strange that we’ve even got the slightest sense of what those two women’s time in Lost Hope must have really been like. With the Greysteel letters, we can add in some details to Jonathan Strange’s Venice period as well as expand a little bit more on the immediacies of the post-Revival period and Arabella Strange herself.”

It’s because of those new discoveries that the series is titled the way it is. “One of the biggest complaints we had when the series was first greenlit was the title. There was so much ‘this is obviously _Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell,_ why aren’t they calling it _Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell._ But this **isn’t** _Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell,_ ” Card explains. “I adore Clarke’s text, but we’re also drawing on the Greysteel letters, Hadley-Bright’s memoir of the peninsula campaign, the Ross exploration into the realms of Faerie, and so on in order to provide more details and boost up some traditionally underserved figures. So yes, it’s not _Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell._ It’s _The Revival of English Magic._ ”

The first episode of _The Revival of English Magic_ , which previously screened for critics, received praise for it’s inventive dialogue, on-the-nose casting choices, and depiction of magic, a stunning blend of on-set magic and visual effects. As not all of the actors are practical magicians, it’s up to Alessandro Rowman to coordinate with the set magicians, the actors, and the visual effects team to create a dazzling display of magic that feels true to the source material.

“Even today, you still have the problem where people complain that magic doesn’t look magical enough,” says Rowman, Head Magician for this production. “It’s like a sword-fight. Nobody in real life actually sword-fights like Errol Flynn or Basil Rathbone did and sword-fights never sound like those Robin Hood sword fights with all the clanging and sparks flying. But because film and television have always tried to push the boundaries of what magic looks like and make it more engaging for the screen, people have the impression that all magic is sparks and dancing lights and ominous voices on the wind. When in reality, it’s not that at all. That’s when the visual effects team comes in and spruces it up a bit.”

When asked about the show’s use of magic, Rubin could only grin. “Obviously we’re trying to make this feel as close to reality as possible. There’s a heavier use of on-set magic compared to other productions. But there are still some scenes that we’ve got to use visual effects for, mostly for the health and safety of our actors and set magicians—understandably, almost all of Strange’s Venice magic is special effects as is the fairy curse that trapped Strange and Norrell. But if we can do that magic in real life, then of course we’re going to do it.”

“Honestly, this series wouldn’t be half of what it was without the set magicians,” says Archie Burgess, the National Theater mainstay who plays John Childermass in the series. “I honestly thought they made a mistake when they cast me—you’re doing a series about English magic and you cast a bloke who can’t do a single spell as a magician? But Rowman and all the set magicians did a fantastic job helping all us non-magical folk wrap our heads around how magic works. And the magic itself! We’ve got some damn impressive scenes in the show, I can tell you that much, and I can’t wait for people to see them.”

_The Revival of English Magic_ premiers on October 25 at 7 pm on BBC Two and will continue to air the following Sundays.


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